


baby you are, everything i've been searching for

by softlvs



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Kim Hongjoong-centric, Lingerie, M/M, Polyamory, This is just pure... fluff, everyone loves everyone, i have no excuse i got soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22123609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softlvs/pseuds/softlvs
Summary: Christmas is around the corner and Hongjoong gets busy to ensure his seven boyfriends have the perfect Christmas gifts.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Choi San/Jeong Yunho/Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang/Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Everyone
Comments: 12
Kudos: 222
Collections: Wayward





	baby you are, everything i've been searching for

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elutherya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elutherya/gifts), [youngjo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngjo/gifts), [regalmingi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/regalmingi/gifts), [Goldlustre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldlustre/gifts), [fluffypillowss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffypillowss/gifts).



> hello and welcome to this monster of a soft fic. i hope you enjoy this! Please do play a soft playlist when reading this for reaching maximum soft levels uwu. This is in dedication to all my wonderful nsfw atiny moots who have made my year enjoyable on nsfw twt and who were my driving force while writing this, i really hope you enjoy this. Thank u to mila and azu for beta-ing this, i learnt a lot from you two!! and thank u azu and angel for listening to me rant about this continuously, you're both the best! The title is inspired by exo's baby you are so you can loop that too while reading!

The sunlight slowly peaks through the windows of Hongjoong’s studio, softened by the snow falling. The melody of slow songs plays through the studio, somehow adding to the magic of the studio with its various noises of needles, the sewing machine and the general comforting hum of a human moving around doing what he loves. As the sun continues its slow ascend to the skies, the ambience of the room remains the same. The tiny figure of a human moves around the studio, not even taking a moment to rest. It would make you laugh if you saw how he many time he nearly bumps into the tables in his excitement - and of course, a tiny bit worried.

The house slowly comes alive with noises, as each occupant wakes and goes along their daily schedule. Hongjoong allows it to become white noise in the background, a comforting melody to go along with his work. He isn’t too hurried with his work, though with the way he moves, it may seem that way. Years of doing this has made him a fast yet efficient worker. His hands translate the love in his heart into every stitch of the clothes and every stroke of paint he makes on some recreations.

His eyes sometimes stray to the clock kept on the table under the window. Currently it is around ten in the morning. He has barely slept the previous night, only napping for two hours before he had stolen away to the studio. He would probably be scolded by his boyfriends later but it would be worth it. He had explicitly forbidden all of them to step into his studio, and so far no one had come snooping, thankfully. His boyfriends were probably incredibly curious and he was sure, sooner or later someone would come prying. 

His heart feels heavy with all that he is feeling for his boyfriends. He allows himself to indulge in all the memories he has with all of them. The first time he met each of them, the first dates he had with each of them, the first time they kissed, the first time some of them met each other, the first i love yous whispered in trepidation to each other, the first time one of his boyfriend (Yunho) fell for his other boyfriend (Mingi), the way he and Seonghwa had set them up, the first time he slept together with each of them, the first time he gave them gifts, the first time the eight had an outing together. Hongjoong will never admit it to anyone nor will breathe a word of it to anyone, but he cries a bit. He sets his tools aside for a moment, and allows himself to just openly sob over them and how much he loves them.

He goes back to work eventually. He is done with only two pieces out of the many that are planned. Some of them are merely recreations, some of them are things he is building from scratch. He has been planning this for so long, a part of him already wants to spoil it to his boyfriends to see their reactions. His goal is to be done by Christmas eve morning, so that he has enough time to wrap and place the gifts under the tree. His heart flutters at the thought of the day, he is sure his boyfriends will love it. His boyfriends love everything he does, so he doesn’t doubt that this will be any different. 

(There is a small part of him that thinks that maybe they won’t like it, that it wouldn’t meet their expectations, but he vehemently shuts it down.)

Around twelve there is a knock on his door. Hongjoong doesn’t realize it at first, too wrapped up in his work to notice but it keeps up and finally Hongjoong looks up from his sketchbook. He hurries over to unlock the door before whoever is on the other side opens the door and accidentally views what he is working on. He maneuvers around the mess he has made on the floor and around the various things lying around not caring or thinking much about it. 

Seonghwa greets him at the door with a tray of food. The smell of it makes Hongjoong’s stomach grumble and he realizes with a start that he hasn’t even had breakfast.

“Hey darling, came to gave you this since I haven't seen you since morning.” the black haired man tells him with a small smile. 

Hongjoong goes on his tippy toes to kiss Seonghwa on the cheek. 

“Thank you, baby!” He says with a huge smile on his lips. He takes the tray from Seonghwa’s hands and takes it inside, using his foot to kick the door close behind him. Just before the door closes he gets a glimpse of Seonghwa smiling shyly, the tips of his ears red and his cheeks a rosy red, as if he was being kissed for the first time. Hongjoong loves that he still has that kind of effect on Seonghwa, that even after all these years he can still make him flustered with a simple kiss on his cheek. 

He knows it's wrong for him to just close the door behind him like that, but the part of him which is immensely focused on his work right now doesn’t care. He had been working on a design for which inspiration had hit suddenly before Seonghwa came. He wants to put it all down on paper before it escaped him, hence is the hurry to get the conversation with Seonghwa over with so quickly. 

He places the tray on the only clean surface in the room, the table under the window where a handful of items like his clock and a silly drawing of Hehetmon that Yeosang had given him on one of their anniversaries are kept. 

(It may be silly but Hongjoong has always displayed it on the table proudly and Yeosang always smiled so happily whenever he saw it on the table, Hongjoong hasn't ever thought about putting it away.)

He promises himself to eat after he finishes working on his design and he moves back to what he has dubbed the “art” table. He is done soon and rips the page with the design on it from the sketchbook and pins it to the cork board above the table, which is filled with many other such designs and random photos and polaroids of various memories with his friends and his boyfriends. 

He stretches before heading over to take tray from the table, sighing as he feels his cramped shoulder and hand muscles relax a bit. 

He heads over to the two seater couch placed in one of the corners of the room to devour the simple kimchi jiggae which he was sure was made by Seonghwa. He scarfs down the food quickly, partly because his are hands itching to go back to work and partly because he is very, very hungry, and washes the meal down with the orange juice Seonghwa had kept on the tray.

Before he goes back to work, he quickly opens his phone which had been buried under piles of expensive clothing till now, and takes a snap of the empty bowl of food and the glass of juice before sending it to the groupchat. He captions it with lots of hearts and a short but sweet, “thank u seonghwa hyung ^-^”. He would have sent it privately but now his boyfriends wouldn’t be too worried about whether he was taking care of (or being taken care of) himself or not. 

He shuts off the phone again, rolling up the sleeves of his sweater, and gets back to the shirt worn by one of the many mannequins in the room.

.

It continues that way, with any one of his boyfriends knocking at the door three times a day to ensure he is fed and alive. He loses all track of time when he is hyper focused on his work so this isn’t something new for them but this is the longest amount of time he has been cooped up in his studio. 

Contrary to their beliefs, however, Hongjoong does ensure to sleep at least three hours each night, take a shower everyday and at least do his skincare routine. After the first three days, he ensures to stock up on snacks and drinks and also get his own three meals of the day. 

(He is not a child and it’s not his boyfriends job to ensure he is a functioning adult all the time, no matter how much they say they don’t mind taking care of him.)

On some days, he talks a walk around the house to clear his head. They live on the outskirts of a city, with nature right behind their huge two storey house. It's a peaceful neighborhood with a few houses which are placed pretty far from each other. They all prefer it that way, they don’t have any nosy, curious neighbors who would question their relationships this way.

The snow makes the scenery even more beautiful during winters. Christmas is just around the corner now. The snow keeps piling up making it difficult to go out at times. Generally, the house is quiet (and at times, lonely) with everyone gone to their jobs all day and Hongjoong, being the only one home since he is the only one of them who works from home, notices that the house is never really quiet. There’s always the sound of someone moving around, at times multiple someones and Hongjoong realizes that they’re starting to stay at home more. Then the winter break arrives in schools and Yeosang is permanently at home all the time. He can hear the sound of drones being flown all day, and it becomes his favorite white noise.

He only gets pulled out of the room on one midnight, a week into his studio lock down and twelve days before Christmas, to set up the Christmas tree. Even though it is so late into the night, all eight are present in their monster of a living room to happily set up the tree. Yeosang had come to drop Hongjoong’s dinner off and had casually informed him that they were setting up the tree when everyone got home. Hongjoong had realized it was a silent request to join them and Yeosang probably missed him, as did the others. 

This is something he wouldn't miss the world for though, and he keeps his work on hold to join them. All of them are overjoyed when they notice Hongjoong on the sofa and they excitedly spoil him with kisses and hugs. 

(Yunho refuses to stop hugging him and Hongjoong finds new fuel to complete his gifts.)

They work in harmony to decorate the living room and the few trees. One huge one is for the living room, one is for the dance studio in the basement, and one small tree is for Hongjoong’s studio. They had all insisted on it and Hongjoong liked it himself so hadn’t refused. The mood is light, and everyone is happy despite some of them, Hongjoong himself included, having horrible eye bags. Yeosang is the only one of them who looks well rested. The lights cast a soft orange glow on the entire room which makes for a warm environment. The wood is burning in the fireplace, Hongjoong had helped Yeosang light it up earlier. All of them are dressed comfortably in sweaters and sweatpants, their faces bare without any makeup. 

However they are them and of course some delays occur. At one point, Wooyoung and Yeosang get really caught up kissing and have to be pulled apart. There is a small debate as to whether the star on top of Hongjoong’s tree should have his face on it or not (Hongjoong says no and everyone else says yes). Next, they argue whether San and Mingi should have their faces on the star on the tree in the dance studio. Said boys are embarrassed and San becomes whiny(which is Hongjoong’s favorite San but don't tell San that). 

Then Yunho gets tangled up in the fairy lights he was trying to hang under the balcony of the second floor which faces the living room. Seonghwa and Wooyoung help untangle them, with Wooyoung calling Yunho stupid and the latter pouting while everyone else just laughs. 

At the end of it all, Hongjoong’s tree’s star doesn’t have his face on it, but the tree in the dance studio does have Mingi and San’s faces on it much to Jongho’s delight. Its nearly three in the morning and everyone collapses on their enormous couch and no one feels like moving. 

Hongjoong is tiny and curled up in Seonghwa’s arms, with Yeosang lying on Wooyoung and San beside them. Wooyoung is leaning against San who is leaning against the couch. Yeosang is holding Hongjoong’s hand, sending warm tingles up his arm. Jongho is being cuddled to death by Mingi and he is nearly asleep. No one is speaking, and yet the silence that blankets them is comfortable.

Yunho has gone to the kitchen to get a glass of water for himself. When he comes back and spots the way the rest have arranged on the sofa, he snorts but an affectionate smile overcomes his face, lighting it up. 

(Hongjoong thinks it's the most beautiful thing he has seen tonight.)

Yunho heads to the display case beside the television and gets the polaroid camera. By now nearly everyone is sleeping. He snaps a picture of them and waits for the polaroid to develop. It takes a few moments and then Yunho is padding over to Hongjoong, who had quietly gestured at the younger to show him the polaroid. Hongjoong holds it close to his face and has to squint a little (he had taken his glasses off earlier) and a smile slowly takes over his face. It’s perfect, except it doesn’t have Yunho in it. When he looks up to tell the latter just that, he finds Yunho looking at him with a soft smile and fond eyes. It’s an expression he gets to see often, yet it always steals his breath away, and makes his heart skip a beat as if it's his first time noticing it. 

“What is it?” Hongjoong whispers softly to Yunho.

“What is what?” Yunho asks with a smile.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Hongjoong murmurs pouting.

“Because,” Yunho murmurs leaning down to kiss Hongjoong, catching the smaller man off guard as he curls a hand around Hongjoong’s nape holding him in place. It's a chaste kiss, unhurried and soft. There is no heat, no want for more, just the need to relish the lips that have met many other times under many other circumstances. To somehow show everything they are feeling for each other in this moment through something physical.

(It feels like he is kissing Yunho for the first time, there are butterflies in his stomach, but then again, the familiarity of Yunho’s lips speaks of many such kisses shared.) 

They pull away, but neither open their eyes, taking in the moment. Yunho rest his forehead on Hongjoong’s and doesn’t move his hand from the older’s neck. He savors this moment, all the things he is feeling for Yunho. The way his heart skipped a beat when he realized that Yunho was leaning in for a kiss, the way warmth spread through his chest when they kissed, the way they still love each other the same even after six long years and six other boyfriends. He is glad that nothing has changed, Yunho was his first boyfriend, his first kiss, his first date, his first everything. And after all these years, it still feels like the first time.

Hongjoong is the first to open his eyes, and he watches the way the shadows cast on Yunho’s handsome face. His breath catches in his throat. Yunho has always been so handsome, so sweet, so cute. Hongjoong can’t help it, he kisses the younger again. Its a quick kiss, this time catching Yunho off guard. He opens his eyes and chuckles softly.

“What was that for?” He teases. Hongjoong is reminded of the short conversation they held a few minutes ago.

“Because.” Hongjoong grins at Yunho. 

Yunho has to swallow his laughs so as to not disturb the rest. Just then, Seonghwa grumbles in his sleep and pulls Hongjoong towards him again. Hongjoong realizes he was probably hurting Seonghwa’s hips by sitting forward like that. To be very frank, his own ass hurts sitting up like that, so he happily complies with his hyung and gets comfortable in his hold, placing his head into the crook of Seonghwa’s neck. 

Yunho takes the polaroid still held carefully in Hongjoong’s tiny hand and then notices how all throughout their tiny makeout session, the older still hadn’t removed his other hand from Yeosang’s tight grip. 

Yunho places the polaroid on the coffee table in front of the sofa, then gets blankets and pillows from the storage area under the staircase. He grimaces when he realizes that he has to wake everyone up to pull the extension of the couch out. It’s an unpleasant job to do and Hongjoong takes pity on him and softly wakes everyone up. Sleepy whines and complains tumble out of everyone’s lips and Mingi doesn’t even wake up. Jongho has to maneuver the big baby’s legs out of the way to allow the extension to be pulled out.

Yunho distributes the pillows and blankets to everyone. He then gets two mattress from the storage and shifts the coffee table to make space for it. He places them right in front of the couch. Hongjoong extracts himself from Seonghwa’s grip and flops onto the mattress in an unsightly manner, eliciting a snort from others. San follows, sleeping on Hongjoong’s left and Yunho takes his place beside the younger boy. Seonghwa cuddles up to Yeosang in Hongjoong’s absence. San ends up being squished between Yunho and Hongjoong, with Hongjoong sleeping on his outstretched arm and Yunho sleeping on his side and facing the two of them, throwing an arm around the smaller boys. 

That’s how the first rays of the sun finds them in the morning, everyone in the same position as they slept in as last night because the week has tired them out. The sun climbs higher and higher, and only when it reaches its peak, does Hongjoong stir. He wakes, cleans up, quickly makes himself make some coffee and some toast for breakfast, and escapes to his studio. 

.

He throws himself back to work with a newfound vigor and motivation, thanks to the previous night. Meeting his boyfriends last night did well to provide new inspiration for designs and other gifts. He has twelve days to finish everything and he is barely even done with one fourth of the work. He isn’t too worried though, at least not yet. He can do this, he will do this, he can’t _not _finish these by Christmas eve.__

____

____

Since he has spent the previous three days mainly working on the designs, he now dives into the actual physical work. He has most of the material ready, and some things are making their way by post or through some friends. It’s all coming together according to plan so far,and if no delays occur then he should be fine.

(The polaroid taken by Yunho finds itself a place in the messy collage of pictures and drawings on the cork board, as well as another polaroid which has all eight of them, taken by Hongjoong when he had woken up in the morning. He makes space near the table under the window to place the Christmas tree carefully decorated the previous night by the loves of his life.)

.

The next week passes by in a blur and Hongjoong is more than halfway through by now. He hasn’t really stepped a foot outside of the room — not even bothering to go to bed on some nights, just sleeping on the couch. He sometimes forgets to eat but bless Yeosang who always has a sixth sense for this and comes with food to the studio. Sometimes it's just a cup of ramen noodles, but Hongjoong appreciates the thought behind it. 

San and Wooyoung also start staying home that starting that week. They do not need to go back to their dance studio till New Years and this means the house gets more noisier. The knowledge that Yeosang doesn’t have to stay home without any company except Hongjoong’s cooped up ass is comforting to the older. He knows Yeosang tends to get lonely without company and generally he would keep him company but since he is busy making everyone’s gifts he can’t this year. It had troubled him for a while but now that Wooyoung and San are around he doesn’t worry about that anymore.

San and Wooyoung however are infinitely more curious than Yeosang and try to figure out just what exactly has gotten Hongjoong so busy. Hongjoong has to start drawing the curtains of the windows so the two troublemakers do not get a peek at his work. 

One day, he finds them trying to sneak into the studio and he nags both of them for a good twenty minutes. The challenging expressions on the two younger men slowly morph into pouts. They pout and whine as a way to get Hongjoong to break and show them the work but over the years of dating the two of them he has built an immunity to it. He folds his arms over his chest, balancing his body on his right leg and just continues to look at them disapprovingly till the two get a hint. They childishly stick their tongues out at the smaller man and Hongjoong just laughs exasperatedly — but also fondly — at them. 

“You will see it soon babes, just give me some time okay?” 

“But when is soon hyung? We miss you, you know?” San says. He tries to hide the hurt in his voice, and Hongjoong's heart aches. He can see it mirrored in Wooyoung’s eyes too. 

His work ethic has always been a sore spot between them all, he tends to throw all of him and doesn’t emerge at all till it's done. It's not unlike San’s who tends to work until he collapses at times, but the younger has gotten better at taking care of himself and not allowing himself to get that way. Hongjoong has tried to change his work ways but it has just not worked. He tends to lose his motivation if he does not complete it all of it in one go. When he works, he forgets everything else. 

He pulls both of the pouting men towards him, engulfing them in a hug. Both of them melt into his embrace and wrap the older in their arms. They stay that way, and Hongjoong is able to hear the heartbeats of the other two. He is pretty sure they both can listen to his too. 

“I promise,” He murmurs in the embrace, “I promise I will be done soon and then we can do whatever you want, okay?” 

“Pinky promise?” Wooyoung asks pulling away from the hug and Hongjoong laughs.

He extends his hand and the purple haired man wraps his pinky around Hongjoong’s. “Pinky promise, babe.” He whispers with a smile.

San who is still half hugging the slightly smaller man, turns him around towards him and kisses him desperately. Hongjoong makes a surprised noise but melts in his arms, kissing him back with the same fervor. It goes on until the need for oxygen overpowers and they both pull away panting and red in the face.

Wooyoung mumbles out a “Me too.” and Hongjoong chuckles before turning around in San’s arms and bringing Wooyoung’s face down a bit to kiss him. Their kiss is less passionate than the one he shared with San and Hongjoong can taste the strawberry candy that Wooyoung loves to have on his lips. They pull away and Hongjoong notices how red Wooyoung has become and grins. 

“Cute.” He says, and San hums in agreement. 

Wooyoung whines at the two and says he is not cute at, which San takes personal offense to, and leaves Hongjoong alone to attack Wooyoung with a shower of affection and compliments. It's disgusting and cheesy — Wooyoung says so out loud. San just grins and says that they should have known this since they started dating in response. They walk off towards the living room, presumably to trouble Yeosang next, and Hongjoong just smiles at the two fondly.

He goes back into the room. They don't come prying again thankfully and Hongjoong is able to get back to work without any issue.

.

That night, he nearly falls over when he opens to door to go to the washroom because he doesn't notice Yeosang who is sleeping leaning against the wall. He shakes the pink haired man awake who starts when he realizes who was in front of him. 

“Oh, hyung.” he says, his voice hoarse with sleep.

“Just how long have you been here, Yeosang?” Hongjoong asks worried, sitting cross legged in front of him.

“Not long, I promise hyung.” Yeosang says with an earnest expression. “Besides, I wouldn't wait that long for you.” 

Hongjoong lets out a whine and pouts at the younger. Yeosang always loves acting like a tsundere, not knowing how to express affection and not knowing how to act when he gets some back. It’s cute and Hongjoong is used to this by now. He knows Yeosang wants something, and he also knows that it will take some prodding to get it out of him.

“Why are you always like that?” He huffs good naturedly, and Yeosang smiles mischievously in response. 

“Like what?” He says giving an innocent wide eyed look, trying to act like he is clueless as to what Hongjoong is talking about. Hongjoong groans and decides to drop the topic. 

“So why were you waiting for me?” He asks, going back to pressing matters at hand.

“No reason. Just felt like seeing your face, hyung.” Yeosang says cheekily, but Hongjoong senses the actual meaning behind those words.

“Aw did Yeosangie miss me?” Hongjoong coos as he leans forward to pinch the younger’s cheeks. He whines and places his hands on Hongjoong’s smaller ones but doesn’t really try to pry them away. That's how Hongjoong knows that Yeosang loves this. 

“I will be done soon. I promise, love.” Hongjoong whispers, and now its Yeosang’s turn to pout. 

“I know, but that’s not what I'm here to hear, hyung.”

It then clicks in Hongjoong’s head, what the younger really was here for. He laughs out loud. How did he not realize this was going to happen? Yeosang wanted a kiss. San and Wooyoung probably have told about what had transpired between the three that afternoon, and Yeosang was probably jealous of them both and wanted one of his own.

“Do you want a kiss baby?” Hongjoong teases with a smile. “Is that why my baby is here, hmm?”

Yeosang flushes, his ears reddening as he forcefully tugs Hongjoong forward to place a chaste kiss on his lips. Before he can move away, Hongjoong straddles Yeosang’s lap and leans down to capture his lips in a more filthier kiss. Its messy and wet, and at one point their noises bump together while trying to adjust to a perfect angle, but neither care and continue on. They pull away to take a breath, but go back in for another one immediately. Yeosang gasps and Hongjoong takes his chance and thrusts his tongue into the other's mouth. He is able to taste the dinner the younger had before, yet he doesn't care and tugs on Yeosang’s hair, eliciting a moan from him. 

They make out for a while like that, but it doesn’t get further than Hongjoong leaving a hickey on yeosang’s neck and the him happily returning the favor. Finally satisfied, they pull away from each other. Hongjoong takes a good look at Yeosang, who looks like a hot mess with reddened cheeks, eyes glazed over and hair messed up. It makes him proud that he can make such a mess out of Yeosang. He is sure he doesn’t look any better than the purple haired man. If Hongjoong had the luxury of time, he would have probably would have taken Yeosang to bed. But as it stands, he doesn’t have enough time for that. 

“Satisfied baby?” Hongjoong whispers, taking in the sight of Yeosang’s face being illuminated with the bright lights of the corridor.

“Very.” He murmurs, mirroring the content grin on Hongjoong’s face. 

.

Hongjoong feels a rush of pride as he views all the finished gifts. His studio looks like a hurricane has gone through it; it will probably be hell to clean up later; but he can't care less. He is finally done, and on time despite his doubts (it's around 11:30 at night on Christmas eve currently). There had been an issue he had come to realize with only three days left until the deadline — a few crucial issues in design, nothing he couldn't fix, but he was extremely short on time and it had required the effort he wasn’t sure he would be able to put in.

It had stressed him out to a great extent because he needed the gifts to be perfect, with not a stitch of fabric or stroke of brush to be out of place. They are for his boyfriends, his loves and they deserve nothing but perfection. He is able to pull through in the end with a few sacrifices He hasn’t slept properly, working during the nights too, having only taken around two short naps in three days. But it is all worth it. He has completed them and everything is perfect and up to his standards. He stretches his body, and winces when he hears his spine crack. 

/

He spends the next two hours wrapping the gifts up, taking a lot of care to not accidently mess them up in anyway. He slips individual handwritten cards in all seven of the packages and hopes they won't mind how hastily they have been written. 

He then places all the gifts under the Christmas tree, except one. It takes two trips for Hongjoong to get all seven boxes outside, and he is thankful that the studio is on the ground floor. It makes shifting things from the studio to the living room easier. Everyone else has also placed their gifts under the tree and its a huge pile, each having gotten a gift per boyfriend. He smiles and decides to take a picture, another polaroid to add to the hundreds of others they have taken in their time together.

He goes back to the studio to get his phone and switches the lights of the studio off on his way out. For the first time in nearly a month, the lights are off during the late hours of the night. Hongjoong makes a lazy trek upstairs where their bedrooms are. He is so tired that he can probably fall asleep on standing, but he longs for the comfort of a bed after sleeping on the couch for so long. His eyes are barely open when he opens the first door he sees when gets to the second floor. He takes his clothes off, flinging them into a corner and gets on the bed, snuggling into whichever boyfriend it is for warmth. As soon his head meets the pillow he is off to dreamland. 

.

He is rudely woken up the next morning by a deafening squeal of “Hyung!” and somebody glomping him. He groans, pushing the person off him with great difficulty and tries to go back to sleep. It doesn’t work because the next moment the covers are being taken away from him. He curls up into a ball because it is cold and he still needs sleep. He hears a giggle and said someone resorts to shaking him awake.

“Hyung, come on! It’s christmas.” 

That’s what does the trick. Hongjoong groggily opens his eyes and squints at the empty space next to him. He gets up and stretches with a groan, then rubs his eyes wiht his tiny fists at which he hears a coo of "hyung is cute" from beside he. He realises that he can’t see properly and promptly stretches out his arm patting beside his pillow for them.

“Glasses?” He asks, his morning voice hoarse and deep, surprising him a little.

"Here hyung." They are handed to his outstretched arm and he puts them on, then finally turns to get a look at the the offender who woke him up. It’s Mingi.

“Good morning, hyung.” The taller boy beams, and Hongjoong is dumbfounded because the red head tends to be the last to wake up. To see him bright and up in the morning just doesn't happen in a normal routine. His shock must have been evident on his face because MIngi laughs and brushes Hongjoong’s hair out of his forehead to place a kiss on it.

“We all have been awake a while now hyung. We decided to allow you to sleep for longer because you looked so tired.” Mingi explains and Hongjoong feels grateful. 

He gets a strange urge to hold the younger’s hands and he goes for Mingi’s hands lying limply next to him. Mingi happily allows him to do so and Hongjoong marvels at how tiny his fingers look in Mingi’s grip. 

“Whats the time now?” Hongjoong asks.

“Around ten.”

“And everyone is awake?” Hongjoong questions curiously, a little surprised.

“Yes! Today is Christmas is hyung, we all went to sleep early yesterday because everyone was excited to open their presents today morning.” Mingi says with a nod.

“How long have you been awake?” Hongjoong says with a teasing grin and Mingi whines. 

“A short while, but I still woke up before you did!” He says indignantly and Hongjoong laughs.

Mingi just ends up pouting at him, and it really isn’t fair how all his boyfriends are so good at pouting. Hongjoong rises on his heels and ends up kissing Mingi, who blushes and slaps a hand over his mouth. 

“What was that for hyung?” He asks wide eyed and Hongjoong smiles happily up at him. 

“You just looked cute.” Hongjoong says simply and Mingi flushes further. 

“Whatever, go wash up hyung. Seonghwa hyung and Yunho hyung have made breakfast. Everyone is waiting for you so they can start opening the gifts.” He grumbles extracting his hands from the shorter man's grip (at which Hongjoong pouts, immediately missing the warmth his hand provided), gets off the bed and opens the door to leave.

“I will be downstairs soon.” Hongjoong calls out behind him and giggles at how Mingi just throws a peace sign in the air to show he has heard without turning around and then slams the door behind him. 

Hongjoong is quite pleased with that. To others, it may seem like Mingi was being rude but he is just acting like he does everytime one of them made him flustered. What a way to start his morning.

He finally looks around the room and realizes that it is Jongho’s room he decided to crash in last night. The bed is covered with black sheets and there are Monsta X posters put up on the bathroom door. A small display case stands near the window with a lot of Monsta X merch neatly arranged on it. His workout clothes are haphazardly thrown in a laundry basket in one corner of the room. His side of the bed is still warm, so Hongjoong guesses that Jongho has gotten up not long before Hongjoong did. 

For the most part his room is actually tidy, unlike usual. Usually clothes are strewn all over the place and the room tends to smell like sweat. Jongho loves working out and is bad at laundry which leads to his room being in that state all the time. Seonghwa hates it, constantly nagging Jongho to clean his room. Hongjoong suspects that Seonghwa probably made them all clean up recently. The sheets smell fresh and Hongjoong is glad for that.

Hongjoong makes the bed before heading out of the room and pads over to his own room two doors over. He quickly cleans up and puts on black pajamas and a black, long sleeved t-shirt. He debates whether to wear his own hoodie or to wear Mingi’s which he had stolen a long time back but has never given back.

(In his defense, Mingi hasn’t asked for it back either.)

In the end, he ends up wearing Mingi’s hoodie which engulfs his tiny frame and Hongjoong loves how it looks like a dress on him. He finally makes his way downstairs. A delicious smell wafts through the air, no doubt of the breakfast that Yunho and Seonghwa made for them and Hongjoong’s stomach grumbles at it. He absent mindedly pats it to quell its grumblings. 

When he reaches downstairs, he is greeted by the sight of Wooyoung and San messily making out on the couch. Jongho is sitting unbothered next to them scrolling through his phone and drinking something out of a KeepCup which, if Hongjoong has to guess, is probably some odd healthy smoothie that tastes disgusting. 

He decides to not disturb them and goes to the kitchen where Seonghwa and Yunho are setting the table and Mingi is chatting with them. Yeosang is nowhere to be seen. 

“Where's Sangie?” Hongjoong asks in lieu of a greeting, moving towards the coffee machine to get a cup for himself. 

"Getting his camera I think? He wanted to film the opening of the presents." Yunho answers him and Hongjoong hums and nods at it. 

“Wait babe, here.” Seonghwa interrupts him before he can start making coffee for himself. Hongjoong turns to him with a curious noise and watches as Seonghwa gets a cup from the cupboard above the stove and pours out some coffee into it from a coffee pot Hongjoong hadn’t noticed previously. He walks over to where the shorter man is standing, next to the kitchen island and hans it to him. Hongjoong takes it with a thanks and happily wraps his hands around the cup, the warmth of the coffee seeping through the ceramic cup and warming them up. 

Seonghwa kisses his forehead compulsively and Hongjoong looks at him with a fond smile.

“I missed you so much asshole. Don’t do that again.” He whines and Hongjoong makes an offended noise.

“Babe, you haven’t even seen why I had cooped myself up for so long.” 

Yeosang’s deep voice cuts off whatever Seonghwa was about to say in response. “And this folks, are the oldest people in the household. They really argue like this all the time.” 

Hongjoong and Seonghwa turn to the entrance of the kitchen to see Yeosang holding a camera in his hand and Mingi draped around Yeosang's back looking at the camera screen. Yunho is laughing quietly beside them.

Yeosang smiles cheekily at them when he notices twin set of glares the eldest two are giving him.

Seonghwa sniffs, “Brat.” Yeosang gives a small laugh at that, not bothering to deny the accusation. The oldest moves towards the three near the entrance and takes the camera from Yeosang’s hand. 

“And this is the biggest brat in this household.” He says panning the camera to Yeosang’s face who starts laughing and covers his face with his hands. He has sweater paws, how cute.

“Now, Hongjoong-shi, breakfast first or gifts.” Seonghwa says moving the camera towards Hongjoong. 

Even though the question is directed only towards Hongjoong, four people yell out gifts as an answer. The decision is made and everyone moves to the living room where a huge pile of neatly packed gifts sit under the tree. 

Woooyoung and San have stopped making out and are fighting over the remote and Jongho is in the same position which Hongjoong saw ten minutes ago, sipping a health drink and scrolling through his phone, completely ignoring his other two boyfriends. 

Yunho announces in a booming voice that it’s gift giving time. Wooyoung, San and Jongho look up at the same time at the rest of them in surprise. Then, Wooyoung and San are leaping up happily and dragging Jongho to the tree because as is the custom for them, the youngest hands out his gifts first. 

Jongho lets out a long sigh looking at the huge pile of gifts that have accumulated under the tree. Traditionally, money is given instead of gifts but Hongjoong had expressed once how he loved the gift giving tradition in the west and since that year, it has become their personal tradition to give gifts to each other. 

Everyone’s gifts are kept in separate piles to ensure nothing gets mixed up. Hongjoong realises that his pile is the biggest one there. Jongho’s is comparably pretty small. He hands them out to each one of his boyfriends who have all made themselves comfortable in various spots in the living room. 

(Most of them are on the couch. Wooyoung and Yeosang having taken the loveseat, with Yeosang happily perched in Wooyoung’s lap. The camera is in Yeosang’s hand, trying to document every moment they make.) 

Next is Wooyoung and his gifts vary in shape and size. Hongjoong gets a long, suspicious looking box which has non existent weight. Then Mingi goes to distribute the gifts. His gift for Hongjoong is, well, heavy. It’s small in size despite its weight and Hongjoong jokingly asks if its a brick at which Mingi whines at him that he would never do that. Yeosang butts in and says that if even if Mingi got their hyung a brick, since it’s from Mingi, Hongjoong would probably like it. Hongjoong goes red and yells out half heartedly that that is ridiculous.

Before it gets any worse, San yells at them to calm down and just wait and watch as to what they got. San distributes his gifts, then Yeosang, then Yunho, and as per Hongjoong’s request, Seonghwa goes before him. 

They all tear into their gifts with fervor. Wooyoung has gotten all of them gag gifts, there has to be at least one person each year to do this. Hongjoong gets an empty box with a yellow sticky note in it which has a cheeky note written on it by Wooyoung. Wooyoung seems very proud of them and everyone finds it hilarious. 

Mingi got them the most expensive things (he got San a ring from Swarovski, Seonghwa a Chanel custom made jacket, Yunho a new pair of Balenciaga shoes, Jongho a MIDI since he has been dabbling in music production recently, Hongjoong a pair of beyerdynamic headphones which he has been eyeing for a while now (but whose price also gave Hongjoong a heart attack every time he tried to buy it), Wooyoung a holiday collection from Giorgio Armani and Yeosang a few really expensive skin care products). It's ridiculous but Hongjoong also knows that Mingi earned a lot this year and has been really happy that he could spoil them all the way they spoil him. 

Everyone is pretty happy with what they’ve gotten so far. As usual, Seonghwa has gotten everyone modest but useful gifts, like a coffee maker for Hongjoong’s studio and a drone for Yeosang. 

Yeosang has given them all a personal copies of photo books of memories with a personalized Hehetmon drawn on the cover of each one. It’s cute and Wooyoung cries when he looks through his. Everyone gets misty eyes looking through them and Yeosang is showered in affection. 

San’s gifts are all sex toys but they all look and feel extremely expensive. He gifts Jongho a bad dragon and the younger dies of embarrassment. Hongjoong suspects the harness that he got for Seonghwa is probably made of real diamonds and gold. 

Jongho’s are unburdensome gifts, as he puts it. Tissue boxes, wipes, coupons to some restaurants and other such gifts. Yunho has gotten everyone hand made candles. He attended many workshops for them this year, finding it fun and relaxing and the scents of each candle are different according to their individual preferences. 

After all the gifts are inspected and safely put away near the coffee table and the packaging is cleaned up thanks to Seonghwa’s nagging, it is finally time for Hongjoong’s gifts. 

He feels nervous; he hasn’t been this nervous around them since he asked them out for the first time. It’s odd. His boyfriends love him and they love everything he does for them, and yet since this means a lot to him, a part of him of him is terrified they wouldn’t like it, that it won’t meet their expectations, which is just absurd. They all have sensed his apprehension and look two seconds away from comforting him.

He starts handing out the gifts to everyone before anyone gets the chance to comment on it. They wait until everyone has received theirs and then start to open them. First come the hand written cards. Hongjoong waits patiently as they all read them and then Yeosang starts sniffing and so does Yunho and Hongjoong panics. 

“Wait, why are you crying? Baby?” He asks, his voice small. 

Yunho doesn’t answer just laughs and wipes his tears away. San fondly pats Yunho’s head though he too looks emotional. Seonghwa and Wooyoung basically wrap around Yeosang, cooing at him and Hongjoong's heart feels heavy. 

“It’s because we love you so much hyung.” Jongho answers him with a fond expression on his face, finally done reading the letter. 

“Ah, I love you too, but now hurry and look at the gifts.” Hongjoong whines.

All of them eagerly comply and then the room is filled with gasps and screams and then Hongjoong is surrounded by his boyfriends and smothered in affection. 

The first to get to him is San, who is still holding his gift set in his hand. He wraps himself around Hongjoong kissing every available surface of his face and the white haired man breaks out in laughter. He feels his face go scarlet from the attention. Seonghwa comes over to kiss his head and Yunho traps him and San in a bear hug. Wooyoung comes up to the three and boldly kisses Hongjoong in front of everyone. When the three finally let go, Mingi, Yeosang and Jongho each come to give their hugs and kisses.

“So I take it you all liked it.” He says happily, voice muffled from having his face pressed into Mingi’s shoulders.

“Liked it? More like loved it. Hyung, these are perfect!” Wooyoung exclaims.

“Yeah, you made them really well Hongjoong-ah,” Seonghwa says. 

Mingi and Jongho let go and Yeosang kisses him. When he lets go, Hongjoong is breathless and red in the face. His heart feels like its about to burst out of his chest; all the nervousness and apprehension he had forgotten in the face of his boyfriends aggressive shower of affection. He loves his boyfriends so much. 

“Can you guys put them on?” He asks and everyone agrees. Seonghwa and Yeosang go to change in the bathroom, Wooyoung goes to his studio with San(with a warning from Mingi to not get up to any funny business) and Mingi, Jongho and Yunho go to the guest bedroom they have in the ground floor. 

Hongjoong takes a seat on the sofa and patiently waits for them to be done. He notices the camera sitting on the display cabinet near the tv, in a perfect place to capture everything going on in the livinf room. Yeosang is the best vlogger ever, Hongjoong knows. He takes it down from the display cabinet turns the view to himself and starts talking.

“Hello loves.” He starts smiling, “Ah this was so hard to put together. I didn't know what to get you this year but thanks to Jongho I was able to figure it out. I mentioned in the letters during which moment of our life you guys wore these outfits, and I want you to know that it was the best thing ever to reminisce them and be able to make these.” He takes a moment to pause and wipe his tears, then continues. “I love you guys so much, I'm so glad you liked them. You guys have been muses for a lot of my artwork and songs, and you all know that, but I had never did something like this before, made something exclusively for you guys, and i don't know why. The looks on your faces when you saw the gifts is something i never want to forget. Thank you for being in my life loves. I hope you wear and cherish these for a long long time.” With that he ends his video note.

(This particular idea had struck Hongjoong when he was out on a date with Jongho. The younger had mentioned how they were back to the same place as their first date and Hongjoong was also wearing something similar to what he had worn on their first date. Hongjoong’s was hit with a wave of inspiration at jongho’s words, and he had left poor Jongho confused and fumbling when he opened his phone and started making notes in the middle of their date.)

.

The first one to come back is Seonghwa who followed by Yeosang. 

Seonghwa is wearing a black turtleneck, long brown coat and a pair of jeans, all handmade by Hongjoong. They are an exact copy of the outfit he wore on their first date, nearly six years back. Hongjoong remembers it clearly, the way Seonghwa stole all the breath in his lungs when Hongjoong saw him standing outside a cute coffee shop in early winter, in the exact same outfit. For a first date, it was awkward and sort of pathetic because both were too in awe of the other to be able to carry out a conversation properly, but when Hongjoong had asked for a second date, Seonghwa had said yes. It is one of the happiest moments in Hongjoong’s life. 

Hongjoong and Seonghwa had taken a cute picture together that day and Hongjoong had to hunt through every single hard drive he has (and he has a lot of them, being a fashion designer and a music producer) to find it. It had been taken on Seonghwa's shitty Samsung which used to barely work, but Hongjoong was able to make out the outfit enough to be able to recreate it properly and that was all he wanted. If he printed out that picture and put it up on the corkboard later, then that is for him to know and for others to find out. 

Seonghwa is also wearing the earrings handmade by Hongjoong. They are butterfly earrings, remodeled from the first pair of earrings that Seonghwa owned and wore. ON their third date Seonghwa and Hongjoong had gone to a tattoo shop to get piercings done. For Seonghwa, it was his first piercing and for Hongjoong, it was his third. Hongjoong had picked the small butterfly studs out and Seonghwa had loved them. He had worn them for five months straight after the piercing until Yunho had gotten him a new pair. Hongjoong had found them one day when helping Seonghwa clean out his storage and he had silently pocketed them to work on them in the future.

The sports shoes he is wearing are also reminiscent of the first pair of high end shoes that Seonghwa had gotten with his own money. Except Hongjoong had reformed them with his art. 

A small “woah” escapes his lips as he appreciates the way Seonghwa looks in his works. Hongjoong feels like it’s the first time he is seeing Seonghwa, outside the cafe in Itaewon, feeling being tongue tied at how beautiful the older man looks. His fashionista self was incredibly pleased with the simple outfit. It is simple yet accentuated all the best features of Seonghwa.

Yeosang, who comes out next, is wearing a sweater that Hongjoong had hand knitted in the past few days. It’s grey and sleeveless. Underneath the sweater, he is wearing a white full sleeves shirt, which is sheer and one size bigger than Yeosang's own(Yeosang loves oversized clothes). The pants he is wearing are leather; it's a bit of an odd fit but it goes well together overall. He is also holding a beret in his hands and is wearing black leather gloves. The bracelet on his wrist is reformed by Hongjoong, with their anniversary date carved onto it. It's a simple silver bracelet, nothing too fancy, but it is the first gift Yeosang has received from Seonghwa.

Hongjoong hasn’t reformed any shoes for Yeosang, having reformed something else for him which he planned to show him later. Yeosang comes up to where Hongjoong is sitting on the love seat and picks up the camera to show his outfit off. He proudly shows the engraving of Peter Pan made on the sleeve of the shirt, and then asks Seonghwa to model his outfit for the camera. Hongjoong watches them fondly, laughing at his boyfriends’ antics.

Wooyoung comes back next, nearly running into the living room stairs in excitement, only being stopped from a disaster happening by San's quick reflexes. He is wearing leather pants too, similar the ones Yeosang is wearing. He is wearing a black turtleneck, layered with a bomber jacket. He holds a denim jacket, the very same one worn by him for his first date with Yeosang, in his hands. The only difference now is that it has been reformed by Hongjoong’s artistic touches. 

The necklace sitting on his chest is the first gift he has received from Hongjoong, and he still wears it on important dates as a good luck charm. Since it was a cheap buy from a fast fashion store, its color wore off gradually. Hongjoong knew it upset Wooyoung, so he decided to get it silver plated and added a locket to it, a picture from their first date painted inside it by him.

San, who follows behind Wooyoung, is wearing a sheer white top, paired with denim jeans. He was wearing this very same look the first time Hongjoong met him at a college party. Hongjoong hadn’t been able to look away from the way San moved, the way he confidently interacted with people — friends and strangers alike — and especially the way he danced. Hongjoong had never known what love at first sight was all about till he had seen San stalking towards him at Bang Chan's college party, beckoning the blue haired man forward to dirty dance with him in the too cramped living room. Yunho had seen the way Hongjoong had looked at San and had given him the go ahead to spend the night with him. 

The outfit was forever ingrained in his head. It was a shame he had never seen San wear it again, because he had torn the top off San in his hurry to get into San’s pants. Hongjoong always wanted to recreate it for San since then.

(That night was also the start of their interesting push and pull relationship. It is, however, a story for another time.)

He has also reformed sports shoes for the younger. San had been recently forced by Mingi to put away his favorite pair of sports shoes into the basement because they had gotten ridiculously old. Despite the torn condition they were in, San insisted on wearing them since they had been reformed by Hongjoong for their third anniversary. Only when Hongjoong promised to reform another pair of such shoes for the younger was San finally convinced to put them away.

San comes up to him and happily plops down in his lap and Hongjoong places his hands on the younger’s waist to steady him as the younger wriggles around a bit to get himself comfortable. 

“Thank you for this.” San murmurs once he finds a comfortable position and bends down to kiss him. It reminds Hongjoong so much of their first time he ends up smiling into the kiss, and San realising that, breaks away to look at him happily. 

“You really like this outfit that much hyung?” San teases and Hongjoong nods, running his hands up San’s chest, under the shirt.

“You are not having sex with San before breakfast. Get up, you heathens.” Yeosang scoffs from behind them and San turns around and flips Yeosang off.

“You are just jealous because you’re not getting any.” San teases and Yeosang’s ears turn red.

“That’s not true.” He grumbles while Seonghwa coos at him and pulls his cheeks and Wooyoung just laughs at all of them. 

Just then, Mingi, Jongho and Yunho, one after the other, enter the living room. Hongjoong regards them critically.

For Mingi, Hongjoong has recreated the outfit from his and Jongho’s first date because they were the last ones in the group to get together. It wasn’t like Mingi and Jongho weren’t interested in each other. In fact, Hongjoong doesn’t think any of them pined over someone as much as they did over each other, but they were both oblivious to the others' feelings, and Hongjoong and the rest had to sit and watch the painfully awkward dance they did around each other. Hongjoong doesn’t quite remember how they finally confessed; he thinks it's when they were both drunk and trying to get home from a restaurant, but all he cares about is that they did. It only took forever in his opinion.

He had helped Mingi with the outfit for the date. It was a simple dark blue shirt, with a long black coat that reached Mingi’s knees and black jeans. Hongjoong when recreating that outfit, had made the coat just a little longer and flowy, and made the blue shirt from silk. Mingi looks gorgeous in it and Hongjoong notices San let out a tiny, pleased sigh checking Mingi out. Hongjoong feels accomplished.

For Jongho, he decided to go the more risque way. He made a shirt with a layer of sheer chiffon on top, and ripped jeans for the bottom. A diamond choker sits on his neck, glittering in the warm morning sunlight filtering in through the windows. It is reminiscent of the outfit he was wearing when he first met Wooyoung. 

They had both been busy with backstage preparations, Jongho with his debut stage and Wooyoung being a backup dancer for another idol, and the two had quite literally ran into each other in the hallway due in their hurry. That night, Wooyoung had come home and excitedly talked about a pretty rookie singer in a black netted top and shown Jongho’s performance to them. Around two days later, he had come home with Jongho’s number and it all went uphill for them from there. 

It has always been one of their favorite outfit on Jongho, with the added sentimentality factor of it being his debut stage outfit, so Hongjoong had decided to remake something similar. Only this time the black net was more sparkly and had pearls and diamonds carefully sewed into it. It was the piece he had spend the most time on and he is quite proud of the way Jongho looks in it.

(He looks like a prince, according to Wooyoung and Yeosang’s furious whisper conversation beside Hongjoong; a handsome, ethereal prince. Hongjoong agrees pleased.)

Yunho is the last one to come into the room. His outfit looks simple, somewhat similar to Yeosang’s, with a cream sweater on top and a white shirt underneath it. Hongjoong had gone with ripped skinny jeans for bottoms. Yunho looks soft and Hongjoong has a sudden urge to cuddle him. 

But that is not all. He has done something extra for Yunho and with the way Yunho approaches him beaming, and picks him up to twirl him around and furiously kisses him, he really appreciates it. 

“It’s perfect.” Yunho says happily to the older man and Hongjoong leans down to again to give him a peck.

“I’m glad you liked it, baby.” Hongjoong says softly. 

“Oh, not just me. Jongho and Mingi really appreciated it.” Yunho laughs, finally putting hongjoong down. Hongjoong smiles deviously. 

“I’m glad then. There were no issues right?” Hongjoong questions him nervously.

“Nope, I told you it’s perfect. You got all the measurements perfect, honey.” Yunho beams at him.

“Can I see?” The older asks curiously and he wheezes at the way Yunho turns red. 

“Sure. But not right now, we have guests coming over in an hour, babe.” Yunho hisses at him.

“Promise?” Hongjoong says, smirking and running his hands up Yunho’s chest and feeling the lace bra he had spent hours making. 

That was the surprise for Yunho. Lace undergarments. Yunho maybe big physically, but he loves pretty things. Naturally, lace dresses and undergarments are Yunho’s favorite things. 

There is one major problem with that; it is hard to find lace garments to fit Yunho. His frame is physically huge, he is the biggest out of them all (everyone goes to him for hugs and cuddles because he is their life sized teddy bear) and he doesn’t really mind that. Hongjoong was Yunho’s first boyfriend and vice versa. Back when they were young and shy, Yunho had once drunkenly confessed to the smaller man about his love for lace. He was embarrassed about it the next morning but Hongjoong had assured him that it was fine and that he would love to see Yunho in lace. 

Since then he and Hongjoong had tried a lot of stores to find something for Yunho. While at times they did find something useful, majority of the times it was a failure. It wasn’t just them, the others had also tried to find something for Yunho but it was hard to find something for his frame and came up empty most times than not. He knows that Yunho doesn’t really mind it but Hongjoong remembers the one time San and Yeosang had flown to Paris for a vacation and had come back with a matching pair of a lace bra and panties that fit Yunho. The way Yunho’s entire face lit up trying them on, and the way he still has them safely kept away in his drawers despite them being torn thanks to Mingi’s excitement; made Hongjoong want to see that again.

He had firmly decided to make some lingerie himself and gift them to Yunho, but being busy with establishing his brand and name in the fashion and music world, he had barely gotten time to make anything for any of them. Well, until now. 

He had placed an order for a special material for lace, and instead of the usual cotton alone, he had gotten the threads made of a blend of linen, cotton and silk. He also designed the lace patterns and gotten all of it made by a friend of his. He had then finally put it all together in the studio. It was baby pink in color and consisted of stockings, a garter belt which will be clipped to the stockings, a thong and a bralette. He also made lace gloves for fun but Yunho isn’t wearing them right now(nor is he obviously wearing the stockings.) 

“Promise.” Yunho replies with a wink, and then laughs. 

Before the extensive internal monologue about how Yunho's laugh is a gift from heaven can start, however, he is violently pulled out of his thoughts by someone pulling his hands from under Yunho’s shirt and yelling, “No funny business in the living room!”

Hongjoong turns around to face the offender with a huff, “Funny business? What are you, twelve, Seonghwa?”

“And no fighting in the living room!” Wooyoung shouts. Hongjoong rolls his eyes at him. Seonghwa, not to be the one to sassed by Wooyoung of all people, retorts back and it escalates from there. However, they all know it's harmless and for fun, Wooyoung would kill a man for Seonghwa. 

The happiness from Hongjoong’s gifts however is palpable in the air and Hongjoong is glad he finally took time off work to do this.

(Yes, his biggest muses are his boyfriends and he has made Mingi, Seonghwa and Yunho the models for many of his lines, but none of those were specifically made for them. He is so glad that he finally got time off to do this. Seeing the happiness on their face because of his gifts makes Hongjoong feel like he is on cloud nine.)

Now, there is just one last gift left. He turns around the chaotic living room to look for Yeosang, who is standing near the fireplace and asking Jongho to show off his outfit to the camera. He makes his way there and tugs on Yeosang’s sleeve gently to get his attention. The younger boy turns around with wide eyes innocently asking what Hongjoong wants.

“Cmon, I have something to show you.” Hongjoong says grabbing him by his forearm and dragging him towards his studio, which is down the hallway near the staircase. 

Yeosang obediently allows himself to be dragged there, camera still in hand. They stop once they reach the end of the hallway, where the door of the studio is half open. He sighs and steps inside, and Yeosang follows. 

He navigates himself around the absolute mess lying around the studio, opens the huge closet which stores all his art and fashion supplies and pulls out the skateboard resting innocently against the wall.

He turns around, nervous feeling having returned, and holds it out to Yeosang. When the younger notices what he is holding, he goes wide eyed. Yeosang doesn't make any move to take it from Hongjoong’s hands and he braces for the worst. He knows its a skateboard that Yeosang holds dear to his heart, since it was the skateboard that got Yeosang his first win. It was worn out due to continuous use and Yeosang has replaced it with a new better one. He kept this one away safely in the garage and sometimes, if he felt nostalgic he would take it to the skate park to skate with for a while. Hongjoong had decided to reform it but without Yeosang's permission. He had gotten the wheels replaced and repainted the design on the skateboard, and had clear coated it to preserve the design. He wasn’t entirely sure if Yeosang would like it and it seemed like his fear was coming true. 

“Hyung…” Yeosang says after a moment, his voice shaky as if he would cry any second now and Hongjoong panics.

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I thought that — maybe — you may like it and—Yeosang are you crying?” His apologies cut off as he realizes that Yeosang is indeed, crying, and he puts the skateboard down — immediately going over to where Yeosang is standing a few feet away, tears running down his face, to comfort him. 

Yeosang just puts the still recording camera onto the art table and pulls Hongjoong closer to him, to bury his face into Hongjoong’s shoulders and soaking it with his tears.

Hongjoong is wraps his hands around Yeosang’s shaking body and pats his head, and continues apologizing for messing up.

Yeosang tries to pause crying for a moment, peels away from his shoulder and glares at Hongjoong. “Stop apologizing, you idiot. I loved it.” He hiccups out and then buries his head into Hongjoong’s shoulders again. 

Hongjoong is taken aback at Yeosang's admission and a little confused too.

“So wait, why are you crying, baby?” He questions. He feels like he has asked this question quiet a few times today and wishes he doesn't have to ask him again.

“Because,” Yeosang says facing him again, “Because..” he tries again, and then bursts into a fresh wave of tears.

Hongjoong laughs and wipes away Yeosang’s tears. 

“You big baby. Oh, I love you.” Hongjoong says, fond, and Yeosang hiccups again. 

“I‘m not a baby. And I love you too.” He says, eyes focused on a spot behind Hongjoong’s head because Yeosang always gets shy when he receives affection. Hongjoong generally would tease him further, but Yeosang looks so happy and content in his arms, that all the older man does is stare at his boyfriend happily and then pecks the younger on his lips. He licks his lips after tastes the salt of Yeosang’s tears. Yeosang lets out a shy, “hehe” at that and Hongjoong dies a little on this inside.

With the younger having calmed down, Hongjoong reluctantly lets go of him to get the skateboard for the younger to inspect it. This time, Yeosang happily takes it without any hesitation and marvels at the fun little designs made by Hongjoong. He grins spotting the tiniest Hehetmon drawn near a skull design. 

He puts it down and kisses the elder, mouthing a tiny “thank you, hyung” against Hongjoong’s lips and in that moment, Hongjoong thinks to himself, that he has found everything he had ever wanted his entire life, in these seven, wonderful boys.

**Author's Note:**

> if you have made it till here, thank u so much. This fic was supposed to be uploaded by new years but it kept getting longer and longer, it has a mind of its own i swear. This is the longest thing i have ever written in my life. 11k words was always a dream for me tbh. this story is my baby now. To rene, koa, kyu, nhoa, kris, kali, and jacqui, thank u yet again. I love you guys so much!


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